 This article is part of the My Name is Earl Wiki series. |
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These are the My Name is Earl Wiki community and inclusion guidelines that will hopefully keep things running smoothly. If you disagree with one of the inclusion guidelines, please feel free to bring it and discuss it with the community.
Interaction with other members[]
Interaction with other members means treating your fellow contributors with respect and good humor. You don't have to feel it. You just have to do it. Specifically:
- Be civil. No personal attacks on others. That applies both on talk pages and edit summaries. For instance, when cleaning up a page:
- Instead of: Spelling, grammar, where did you go to school???
- Just say: Fixing spelling and grammar
Also, please be aware that your tone may not come across to people who can't see your face or hear your voice.
If you are the person who is offended, try to assume that the other person is acting in good faith, and respond in kind. That can often defuse arguments before they even begin.
- Treat others' work with respect. Do not belittle or ridicule someone else's work or ideas, and do not delete it capriciously. The exception is obvious vandalism, which should be removed as soon as possible. However, if a person seems to be trying, assume good faith and try to help them.
Rework and rewrite as much as you want, but try to find a place for everything rather than cutting it out completely.
Character status policy[]
It is not unusual for the status of a character to be a topic of dispute among users. Before changing a character's status, it is requested that you propose the change first on that character's Talk page. Then, if there are no responses or after a civil discussion results in consensus, the status can be changed. This process can be repeated as necessary.
In addition, it is the current established policy of this wiki to use only "Alive", "Deceased" and "Unknown" as statuses. Status options such as "Presumed deceased", "Alive (comatose)", "Deceased (shot)", and other variations are not valid.
If a character is not explicitly seen or mentioned to be dead, but events imply that the character will soon be killed, his or her status is listed as "Unknown" on account of the uncertainty and ambiguity. The article body itself is the place where the status can be further described and explained, but not the status field.
In accordance with the Spoiler policy, status changes can only be recorded from episodes that have aired or comics and novels that have been published. Information from unaired episodes and unpublished novels or comics, such as advertisements and promotional trailers, are spoilers and are not permissable.
Copyright policy[]
The text of EarlWiki is freely licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL). Reusers of the content must retain it under the same licence, ensuring it remains free.
Please read the text of the GNU Free Documentation License for full details of this licence.
- Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts.
- A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
- Content on Wikia is covered by disclaimers and the Wikia terms of use.
GNU Free Documentation License[]
The GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) is a copyleft license for free content, designed by the Free Software Foundation (FSF).
The GFDL is a copyleft license, meaning the content can be copied, modified, and redistributed so long as the new version grants the same freedoms to others and acknowledges the authors of Earl Wiki. Earl Wiki content will, therefore, will remain free forever and can be used by anybody subject to certain restrictions, most of which serve to ensure that freedom.
Wikipedia, one of the web's most popular reference works uses the GFDL. Using the same license as that site makes it easy for Wikia users to reuse the content from Wikipedia. You must adhere to the GFDL when using Wikipedia content. An easy way to link back to Wikipedia is to use the shared template {{Wikia:Wikipedia|Page title}}.
Licensing exceptions[]
Désencyclopédie is the only Wikia currently allowed to include non-GFDL pages. This is to allow the community to adapt content from Uncyclopedia, its sister project, under the terms of the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA. Pages that are not available under both the GFDL and this CC license will be clearly tagged as such. See Desencyclopedie:Project:Copyrights for details on this.
Other exceptions:
- The sister projects of Wikia may be under different licenses.
- Images and other uploaded files may be available under an alternative free license, or under fair use.
- Some users may have chosen to multi license their edits. In such cases, that user's edits will be available under the GFDL as well as other licenses.
- Some wiki communities may have chosen to multi license their whole wiki. In such cases, the content will be available under the GFDL as well as other licenses.
Deletion policy[]
Rewriting is essential to the building of a wiki database of information. That's why the site is a wiki - we want participation! Rewrite and correct and cite sources as much as you want, that is always worthwhile. Conversely, if someone has rewritten something you wrote, don't take it personally. Everyone is trying to make things better.
However, outright removal of a fact shouldn't be done lightly. Before eliminating something someone else wrote in good faith, ask yourself:
- Can this be rewritten? Try cleaning up the spelling, grammar, and formatting. A little polish can work wonders.
- Can this be moved? There might be a more appropriate name for an article, or a more appropriate article in which to place a fact. Maybe a sentence in an article would work better as a background note, or a background note item should go in the body of the article.
Deleting and reverting should be reserved for patent nonsense and clear vandalism (such as number strings, profanity, and page blanking). Nothing should be removed because it is too trivial, as this is a purely subjective value judgement and violates the Neutral Point of View policy.
Image use policy[]
- Obey our copyright policy when uploading images.
- Use the image description text box to describe an image and its copyright rules.
- The description entered when uploading an image becomes the default text for the image description page. You can use wiki markup in the image description.
- If the image is a screenshot from the show or some promotional material, type {{fairuse}} in the image description text box! The result is as follows:
Licensing
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This image is a screenshot or promotional photo of a copyrighted television program. As such, the copyright for it is most likely owned by the company or corporation that produced it, NBC. It is believed that the use of a limited number of web-resolution screenshots
qualifies as fair use under United States copyright law. Any other uses of this image might be copyright infringement. For more information, see Wikipedia's page on fair use. |
- Use a clear, detailed title for the file. An obscure name like "qua_047.jpg" won't help anyone!
- Don't include any watermarks or text in the image (this includes copyright notices; those belong in the text of the image description page!).
- Use the JPEG format for photographic images such as screenshots, and PNG or GIF for diagrams and other low-contrast images.
Real-world information[]
Because some people may want to know only what was stated on the show, information extrapolated from real life should be set apart from information from the show. Put it under the "Background information and notes" heading instead of in the main article body.
Spoiler policy[]
- See the full Spoiler policy for more information.
Earl Wiki is a reference guide to established facts about My Name is Earl, however our current policy does not permit the inclusion of information about upcoming episodes, including that from trailers, TV Guide summaries, official press releases, or spoilers leaked from the set of the show. Only once an episode has had its first official airing is it considered fair game for inclusion in the wiki.
Although spoilers can be easily deleted or reverted on Earl Wiki, the human brain doesn't have this feature. Unwanted knowledge of spoiler information can be detrimental to the enjoyment of My Name is Earl for some people. Because of this, Earl Wiki enforces a strict ban on spoilers. Including such information can result in a permanent ban from the site.